Child-to-Mother Violence: A Pilot Study
Michel Stewart
PhD Student, Clinical Nursing Research Unit, University of Western Sydney, Penrith NSW
Lesley Wilkes
College of Health and Science University of Western Sydney, Sydney NSW Australia
Debra Jackson
Professorial Fellow, School of Nursing, Family and Community Health, University of Western Sydney, sydney NSW
Judy Mannix
School of Nursing & Midwifery University of Western Sydney, Sydney NSW, Australia
PP: 297 - 310
Abstract
There is vigorous research and debate into family violence. However, there is a paucity of enquiry into violence directed from child-to-mother.
This paper presents preliminary results from the pilot of a larger study that examines child-to-mother violence in the western suburbs of Sydney Australia. The data are from questionnaires distributed to women who are or have been mothers of children aged 10 to 24 years. Descriptive analysis revealed that an overwhelming majority of the 129 women surveyed experienced some form of threatening behaviour or acts of violence from their child/ren. The main perpetrators were sons and targets mothers. More than half the women had not spoken to anyone about the behaviour previously and a number of women stated their child had witnessed violence in the home.
Findings suggest the complexity for women is increased as women are often encouraged to separate from violent partners but their role as mothers prevents them from dividing from a violent child. The incidence appears high, however further evidence from larger samples is required to reveal the full extent of this important social issue.
Keywords
child-to-mother violence, mothering, family violence, prevalence, gender and power
References
AAP (1992) Parents keep quiet on abuse by teenagers. In Healey K (ed) (1993) A violent society? Issues for the nineties 12: 6, The Spinney Press, Wentworth Falls.
Agnew R and Huguley S (1989) Adolescent violence towards parents. Journal of Marriage and the Family 51: 699-711.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2001) 2001 Census Basic Community Profile and Snapshot. LGA10900 Blue Mountains, LGA13800 Hawkesbury, LGA16350 Penrith, retrieved 04/04/2004 http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@census.nsf/
Bandura A (1977) Social learning theory, NJ Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs.
Barkin S, Kreiter S and DuRant R (2001) Exposure to violence and intentions to engage in moralistic violence during early adolescence. Journal of Adolescence 24: 777-789.
Bessant J, Sercombe H and Watts R (1998) Youth studies: An Australian perspective, Longman, Sydney.
Bobic N (2002) Adolescent violence towards parents: Myths and realities, Rosemount Good Shepherd Youth and Family Services Inc, Marrickville.
Bobic N (2003) Adolescent violence against parents, Rosemount Good Shepherd Youth and Family Services Inc, Marrickville.
Brezina T (1999) Teenage violence towards parents as an adaptation to family strain: Evidence from a national survey of male adolescents. Youth and Society 30(4): 416-444.
Brown M and Hendricks J (1998) Wife abuse. In Jackson N and Casanova Oates G (eds) Violence in intimate relationships: Examining sociological and psychological issues: 119-133, Butterworth Heinemann, Boston.
Charles AV (1986) Physically abused parents. Journal of Family Violence 1(4): 343-355.
Cornell C and Gelles R (1982) Adolescent to parent violence. The Urban and Social Change Review 15(1): 8-14.
Cottrell B and Finlayson M (1996) Parent abuse: The abuse of parent by their teenage children. Report and Booklet, The Family Violence Prevention Unit, Health Canada, Ottawa.
Cottrell B (2001) Parent abuse: The abuse of parent by their teenage children. Report, The Family Violence Prevention Unit, Health Canada, Ottawa.
Crow G (2002) The relationship between trust, social capital, and organisational success. Nursing Administration Quarterly 26(3): 1-11.
Dobash RE and Dobash RP (1979) Violence against wives: A case against the patriarchy, Free Press, New York.
Domestic Violence and Incest Resource Centre (DVIRC) (1996) Theories to explain domestic violence. In Healey K (ed) (1998) Violence in the family. Issues in society 99: 12-13, The Spinney Press, Balmain.
Evans E and Warren-Sohlberg L (1988) A pattern analysis of adolescent abusive behaviour toward parents. Journal of Adolescent Research 3(2): 201-216.
Falk I (1999) Community and family dynamics: The role of social brokers in social well being, paper D9/1999 in CRLRA Discussion Paper Series, Centre for Research and Learning in Regional Australia, Launceston.
Ferrante A, Morgan F, Indermaur D and Harding R (1996) Measuring the extent of domestic violence, Hawkins Press, Annandale.
Harbin H and Madden D (1979) Battered parents: A new syndrome. American Journal of Psychiatry 136(10): 1288-1291.
Hastie C (1998) Parental abuse and its links to domestic violence, 2nd National Conference on Children, Young People and Domestic Violence, 29-32.
Herrera V and McCloskey L (2001) Gender differences in the risk for delinquency among youth exposed to family violence. Child Abuse and Neglect 25: 1037-1051.
Hogg R and Brown D (1998) Rethinking law and order, Pluto Press, Annandale.
Horsfall J (1996) The presence of the past: Male violence in the family, Allen & Unwin, St Leonards.
Jackson D (2003) Broadening constructions of family violence: Mothers' perspectives of aggression from their children. Child and Family Social Work 8: 321-329.
Kelly L and Radford J (1996) Nothing really happened: The invalidation of women's experiences of sexual violence. In Hester M, Kelly L and Radford J (eds) Women, violence and male power: Feminist activism, research and practice: 19-33, Open University Press, Buckingham.
Langhinrichsen-Rohling J and Neidig P (1995) Violent backgrounds of economically disadvantaged youth: Risk factors for perpetrating violence. Journal of Family Violence 10(4): 379-398.
Livingston L (1986) Children's violence to single mothers. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare 13(4): 920-933.
London S (1999) On fraternity, social capital and the American community, retrieved 05/02/2003 http://www.intellectualcapital.com
Makepeace JM (1981) Courtship violence among college students. Family Relations 30(1): 97-102.
McGibbon G (1997) Practice. How to make a questionnaire work. Nursing Times 93(23): 46-8.
Moon L, Meyer P and Grau J (1999) Australia's young people: Their health and well being. AIHW Cat. No PHE 19, Canberra.
NSW Domestic Violence Committee (NSWDVC) (1991) Domestic violence information manual, NSW Australia.
Peek C, Fischer J and Kidwell J (1985) Teenage violence toward parents: A neglected dimension of family violence. Journal of Marriage and the Family: 1051-1060.
Pelletier D and Coutu S (1992) Substance abuse and family violence in adolescents. Canada's Mental Health 40: 6-12.
Pillemer K and Suitor J (1988) Elder abuse. In Van Hasselt VB, Morrison RL, Bellack AS, Hersen M (eds) Handbook of Family Violence: 247-70, Plenum Pr, New York.
Professional Education Taskforce on Family Violence (PETFV) (1994) Family violence: everybody's business, somebody's life, Federation Press, Leichhardt.
Putnam RD (1995) The prosperous community: Social capital and public life. The American Prospect 4(13), retrieved 05/02/2003 http://prospect.org/print/v4/13/index.html
Putnam RD (2000) Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community, Simon and Schuster, New York.
Putnam RD (2002) Bowling Together. The American Prospect 13(3), retrieved 05/02/2003 http://prospect.org/print/v13/3/index.html
Queensland Domestic Violence Task Force (QDVTF) (1998) Beyond these walls: Report of the Queensland Domestic Violence Task Force, QLD Department of Family Services, Brisbane.
Smith M (1994) Enhancing the quality of survey data on violence against women: A feminist approach. Gender and Society 8(1): 109-127.
SPSS (2003) SPSS Graduate Pack 12.0 for Windows, SPSS Inc. Chicago, IL.
Stewart M, Jackson D, Mannix J, Wilkes L and Lines K (2004) Current State of Knowledge on Child-to-mother Violence: A literature review. Contemporary Nurse 18(1/2): 199-210.
Strauss MA and Gelles RJ (eds) (1990) Physical violence in American families: Risk factors and adaptations to violence in 8,145 families, Transaction, New Brunswick.
Taylor S (1997) Breach of innocents: Intrafamilial rape and the violation of trust. Women Against Violence: An Australian Feminist Journal 3: 31-37.
Virginia Department of Health (VDH) (2003) Adolescent health programs of the Virginia Department of Health, retrieved 05/08/2005 http://www.vahealth.org/adolescenthealth/
Weiler J (1999) Girls and violence. Digest 143, Clearing House on Urban Education.
World Health Organisation (WHO) (2005) Child and adolescent health and development, retrieved 05/08/2005 http://www.who.int/reproductive-health/publications/RHR-01-8/
Yllo K (1993) Through a feminist lens: Gender, power and violence. In Gelles RJ and Loseke DR (eds) Current controversies on family violence, Sage Publications, Newbury Park.
eContent Home
